Esko has announced that it recently concluded another successful EskoWorld user group meeting. The event, held June 15-18 at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin hotels in Orlando, FL, USA, was host to more than 700 users, industry partners, product specialists and support staff, who exchanged ideas along with product and application knowledge. Sessions offered insight into the breadth of the Esko experience, including flexo platemaking, packaging prepress, color management, structural and 3D design, brand management, digital label and large format print and digital finishing.

The curriculum of more than 90 sessions included special guest speaker contributions from the Disney Learning Institute, Wallace Church Agency in New York City and selected customer presentations.

“EskoWorld had an expanded audience this year by appealing to more companies, but also by encouraging companies to send more participants. They see the value in this event,” says Carsten Knudsen, Esko's president and CEO. “EskoWorld continues to offer an opportunity for our customers to converse with each other and interact with Esko product management. We are very careful not to make this event a sales show, but rather a user event – a learning experience where people can develop a better understanding of the business we are all in. We have always focused on printers, converters and tradeshops, but this year we made a specific effort to expand the program to include useful tracks for brand owners. We had a large group of brand owners at EskoWorld for the first time, focusing on their workflow and approval cycle challenges they face every day.”

Customized package design and the importance of branding
“Esko has significantly changed our company from where we were a few years ago to today. This was my fourth EskoWorld. EskoWorld always offers a great opportunity to network with people, who give me great ideas to bring home to my company,” notes Amanda Webster, prepress production supervisor at the Bowling Green, OH based Century Label. “I felt that a significant focus was made to bridge the communication gap between the brand owners and print providers in the supply chain. Some of the relevant technologies were Esko’s 3D solutions, and the ability to use PantoneLIVE to match brand owners’ color expectations with print capabilities. I also had a chance to see the new Automation Engine 14 and learn what changes were being made in the software structure – and I highly appreciated the opportunity to provide input during the roadmap sessions. Esko listens to its customers and seriously reviews concerns that are translated into fixes and software updates.”

EskoWorld hosted two presentations from Wallace Church and Disney. They both covered topics facing all partners of the supply chain: How to engage consumers on a personalized basis, and how to maintain brand loyalty.

Rob Wallace, chief brand advocate at Wallace Church, a Manhattan and San Francisco-based brand identity strategy and package design consultancy, offered the Keynote "Hyper Customization—Engaging Consumers with Personalized Package Design." It explained how new advances in digital printing make it viable for marketers to engage consumers on a truly individual basis. Church offered a next generation vision for how brand messaging can be hyper customized.

Another highlight was presented by The Disney Institute, "Disney’s Approach to Brand Loyalty," providing their perspective about managing the Disney brand. EskoWorld also provided a number of sessions from brand owners that provided their unique perspectives about how they view the packaging supply chain.

Focused demo lab area
Esko also staged a demo lab where users could speak with solution experts or sample the latest software. The labs also housed two Kongsberg tables including the new Kongsberg C Series – the largest fully functioning table in the industry.

“I attended EskoWorld to review a lot of new technology,” says Tim Gustafson, press/prepress manager, Professional Image, Tulsa OK. “I specifically wanted to see the new RIP in Suite 14 that uses an Adobe kernel rather than an Esko Kernel. I also liked many of the color management sessions – for example, the class about PantoneLIVE. Matt Furr offered a very good presentation about his Clemson master’s thesis research with 7-color extended gamut printing. I’ve returned to our company with a good idea how to use Max GCR to color manage easier and to synch profiles to run GRACoL and connect them together. It was definitely worthwhile to attend EskoWorld.”

The next EskoWorld event is planned for June 2015 in Scottsdale, AZ, USA.